No active sync no eM Client :(

Now with eM Client 8 available I decided to give it a new shot but still notice that after 6-7 yers that preople has been asking for Active Sync support there nothing new under the sun. As much I would be able to use eM Client , unfortunately this is a show stopper for me and many others.

I am using Zimbra mail server which is fronted by Z-push for Active Sync and that works flawless with all Active Sync compatible devices (outlook, mobile phones, tablets etc). To jack eM Client into such a solution could not be impossible? There is a market for is. A win/win for everybody,

Gr1pen,

Active Sync actually exists in Em Client. You can set it up by modifying the Providers.xml file. It used to work flawlessly about 4 years ago or so. While you can get this set up, it it buggy as hell. It will download only so many of your contacts and calendar events.

As of Em Client 8 the calendar has gotten worse. You can create a calendar event and your Zimbra server calendar will get updated but the even gets deleted in emclient’s calendar on the the next refresh. However, the event is still on your Zimbra server.

I have examined the logs and I can see the ActiveSync scripts being issued to the server by Em Client but I have no idea what is causing the problem. There are no errors from what I can tell.

I have been experimenting with the Zimbra client. You might want to do the same.

But I am with you. Why Em Cleint would not want to fix something they already have coded for is beyond me. It’s probably something really simple. As far as I can tell, every Android cell phone client has the ability to use ActiveSync. It works great on my Android phone anyway.

Hello Randy,

The protocol itself (ActiveSync) was primarily created to work on mobile devices and this would cause problems on the desktop app while, for example, moving messages between normal (IMAP/EWS) accounts and the ActiveSync account. On top of that, the royalty fee that is charged by Microsoft for each installation is unfortunately incompatible with our FREE license.

We tried to convince the Zimbra team to support the well-designed Exchange protocol but they refused to do so.

Best regards,
Russel

Thanks for the information and response Russel. Just as a point of clarification, I have paid for three subscriptions but I take your point.

I am a little confused on what you are saying. First, I thought that the royalties were for the ActiveSync server. The client merely issues commands to the server. Second Em Client actually does send active sync commands today. Up until recently, as I understand it, Google used ActiveSync which Em Client has supported for years. So, I am not understanding why Em Client can’t correct the processing of these commands on the client side.

As for issues moving messages between IMAP/EWS and ActiveSync, I am not sure what you mean. The email,contacts and calendar apps on my cell phone have no problem whatsoever in doing so. ActiveSync is a well known and well used protocol. Just about every cell phone on the planet uses it.

Not so much for EWS which, as I understand it, is also a Microsoft proprietary protocol. So, it would also have to be licensed and royalties paid. That’s probably why the Zimbra guys don’t want to add it to their server. They already have paid for ActiveSync.

Basically, I and others are just asking that the current software be fixed on the client side. The data is being received but it appears to just be stored or processed incorrectly. It also passes the information (most of the time) to the ActiveSync server. It seems to me that it is just some bug that needs addressing not a wholesale writing of code to include the functionality.

Gr1pen,

An update for you. I have found out recently Zimbra (at least the version I use) does support Caldav and CardDav. You could use these protocols to sync your calendar and contacts.

However, after years here of trying to get ActiveSync corrected I have tried to set up Caldav and CardDav on two different email servers Zimbra and Horde using Em Client. So far the contact syncing works, but the the calendar management appears to have bugs in it that cause incorrect and unwanted notifications to be sent out to invitees on meetings (see my post on the issue).

Also, if you really want a concise implementation of the CalDav and CardDav protocols, you really need to change the providers.xml file to include these protocols for your domain.

It they fix the bug(s) with Caldav, you might want to consider using these protocols.

Hi,

Thanks. I gave up on eMclient way back since its not supporting todays standards. I was looking for a good alternative to Outlook, but since I switched to M365 this does not matter anymore since Outlook is included.

ActiveSync is an open protocol, so not why anyone is paying Microsoft anything !!

You have to pay for every client connected via ActiveSync protocol to Microsoft. That’s why all alternative vendors like Zimbra or IceWarp charges for every ActiveSync client license. Please make a research first. It is not “open protocol” at all. You can bet we have done such research, as ActiveSync really had been implemented on our side, but the license/patent policy of microsoft make it impossible for us to use it. And once again the protocol is not well suited for desktop/offline use. It has many limitations, that’s why we use IMAP or EWS instead.

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